The Beginning of the End
by Ledgendary Aura
Summary: A plane fell from the sky, without warning, and without reason. Two humans survived. However, 'twas not coincidence. A better summary inside. Rated T for violence, rating set to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello Reader!**

**Man, it's been a while, hasn't it?**

**Whelp, I'm back for my second fan-fiction, this time in the realm of Fire Emblem. Don't worry though, there is another pokémon fic in the works (not that anyone cares).**

**This story is a modern-day retelling of the Awakening plot line, except all the characters are college students. Yeah… It's a bit of a stretch. Anywho, there are just three things I wish to explain before we begin. First, each chapter is going to have a quote attached to it that I feel sums up the mood of the chapter. If I can find the original speaker, they will be quoted, if not, then I probably just made it up and it will be marked "X". For example, today's quote is "The beginning is always today" -Mary Shelley. The second thing, which will not be included in all chapters, is songs. I really wanted to write a songfic, but I don't know how… so some chapters will have songs listed above them that fit the mood. However, I couldn't find any songs for this one, so just… make up your own or something. Lastly, I don't always have access to a computer, so some of these chapters will be written on my phone. This one is all computer, though.**

WARNING TO ALL READERS: THIS VERSION OF THE STORY IS CURRENTLY BEING UPDATED, AND IS VERY SLOW PACED. A NEW VERSION IS BEING WRITTEN, BUT THAT MEANS THAT ONLY THE CURRENT CHAPTERS THAT ARE UP FOR THIS STORY WILL BE POSTED ON THIS PLOT LINE. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.

**Sorry for the long AN. Let's begin!**

**DISCLAIMER: All aspects of Fire Emblem Awakening are property of their respective owners. None of which are me.**

_Three figures running down a dark hallway. Echoing footsteps._

Flashing lights against a blue sky. Shouting.

_Two combatants in dark robes. Swords clashing._

Smoke rising upwards. Immeasurable pain.

_A rising figure. A bolt of lightning._

Moving rubble. A face.

_A crumpled body._

Blackout.

_"Thanks to you, we carried the day."_

For an eternity, his entire world was darkness and pain. Nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. As far as he knew, nothing else had ever happened to him. He felt empty. _He,_ he thought,_ why do I call myself he?_ He sat there in darkness, pain making it hard to think. _What is my name?_ Another pause._ Robin. I just remembered that. How odd. I suppose that's one mystery solved._

Robin opened his eyes. It surprised him that they worked. The color was a refreshing sensation to his weary brain, though it was just the pastel gray of a wall. _That's a beautiful wall_, Robin thought, then chuckled at his own delusion. He tried moving his neck next, rotating slowly side to side. It hurt, but no more than what he was already experiencing. He was in a long, _what was the word,_ rectangular room, with four walls painted identical to the beautiful one he had opened his eyes to. The floor was a light cream title. He drank that in for a moment before moving on.

Looking down, what he only assumed was his body lay in bandages on a baby blue bed with a steel frame. A tube was stuck in his arm, attached to a needle. Some sort of liquid poured in to his veins from a bag hung above his head. He was wearing no shirt, but could feel something wrapped around him from the waist down. A moment later, he realized that it was most likely pants.

To the left of his bed sat an identical setup to what he was resting on, with a similarly bandaged figure, facing away from him, laying shirtless on the bed. Blushing, Robin noted that the other human was female. _Now why does that make me blush?_ He tried to remember. Whatever had happened to him, he seemed to have experienced some memory loss.

A door he had somehow failed to notice on his primary scan of the room opened and a woman in a blue shirt and blue pants rushed in, placed her hand on the girl in the other bed, then swapped out the bag hanging over her head for a new one.

"Ex-ec-e" Robin started, then broke out coughing. The woman now came to his bedside. Voice dry from lack of use, Robin started again. "E-excuse me" his voice caught. She handed him a small cup of water, which he downed gratefully. "M'am, could you please tell me where I am?" Speaking was easier now.

The woman smiled warmly. With a thick accent Robin couldn't recognize, she answered, "The Lutheran Hospital, outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Do you wish for me to call a doctor?" Robin nodded, and the Nurse ran off.

Fifteen minutes of staring at his own heart rate monitor later, a man in a white coat walked in to Robin's room. He had black hair that was gray at the stems and a short beard that looked well-trimmed and messy at the same time, sort of like one would expect an aging father to look.

"Glad to see you up. You are very lucky, you know." He spoke softly while smiling.

"I-I'm sorry sir, I don't know. Everything before that wall"-he jerked his head at the wall- "Is a big blank for me. What happened?"

The doctor sighed. "You were on a plane destined for somewhere in the North-East of the US. Nobody knows for sure what happened. One minute you're in the sky, the next, a tin can full of dead bodies smoking on the ground. You and her"- he pointed to the girl on the other bed -"Were the only survivors. I fear that, if you lost your memory, she may have too." Robin shuddered. The girl rolled over. "I have your coat in my office somewhere if you would like to see it. You were wearing it when you arrived."

"Could you bring it to me, sir? I fear I may be unable to walk."

"I wouldn't allow you to even if you could. You need to be glued to that bed for the next week." The door slammed as the doctor left.

The noise woke the girl to Robin's left. He watched as she went through the same steps he had, soaking up all the colors of the world she had missed for the last few days. She was pretty, with a full figure and white hair running down her back akin to the strands Robin noticed were hanging in his eyes. She turned on her other side to face him, and he blushed bright red and looked away.

"You can look now." She called in a smooth voice. Robin turned back to face her, relieved to realize that she was as red as he.

"You're alive." He mused.

"So it seems. Any idea what's going on?"

"According to the staff, we were in some sort of plane crash, and won the lotto and turned out to be the only survivors."

"Lucky us. Are you in as much pain as I am right now?"

"Do you feel like you are simultaneously burning to death while bench pressing the weight of the earth?"

She laughed harmoniously. "That was an excellent way to put it, Mr.-"

"Robin. My name's Robin."

"Now where do I know that from? Oh, it seems so familiar! I'm gonna kill myself thinking it over." The girl stared at the wall for a moment, pondering. "By the way, my name is… name is… is…" She gasped. "How am I supposed to know your name if I can't even remember my own?" The girl's brow furrowed.

"You too, huh?"

"Sorry?"

"I've forgotten everything as well. We must have experienced too much trauma." Silence.

"Skye. My name's Skye. I just remembered that. How odd. Well, I guess that's one mystery solved." Robin burst out laughing.

"Those are the exact words I used telling myself my name! You think we're related?"

"Wouldn't put it past fate to make us siblings. It's cliché, like something you would read in a fan fiction." The conversation stalled. There was a moment of excitement as Robin quickly looked away when Skye's tired hands dropped the blanket covering herself, but other than that, the two sat in silence. A silence broken by the doctor as he reentered the scene.

"Here, young man, is your coat. Ah, young lady, it is good to see you alive! I have your sweater for you here. I figured that I could keep it in here until you awoke, but as you are up, you may take it." He cleared his throat, calming himself. "My apologies. You must think me incompetent for not treating you now, but truth be told, you were out for long enough for our staff to preform all necessary operations on you. All you are doing now is R+R, and soon you will be fully healed. You might still need a couple casts, however." The doctor left as quickly as he had arrived.

"What's his rush?" Skye ask Robin, putting on her sweater and zipping it up the front.

"Maybe there is a pandemic of rotten toe worms in the area." Robin said offhandedly, but immediately regretted it, as he heard sounds of retching from the side of his bed. He, too, felt queasy just thinking of the idea.

"Why would you even think that?" Skye scoffed as she righted herself agin, wiped her mouth, and began to dig through the numerous pockets of her retuned sweater. Why she owned, or how she found, a sweater with all these pockets was a mystery.

"My last name is Shiro. What's your's?" she ask Robin, examining half a torn plane ticket. On it read her name, "Skye Shiro", and destination, but the only word of it she could make out was "Hopkins". It was obvious the ticket had seen better days.

Robin was examining a wallet, which had fared much better than Skye's ticket. It held a sky-blue drivers license, a $5 off coupon for a coffee shop, a folded up traveler's check, and fifty dollars worth of pennies.

"I'm a Shiro too. Robin A. Shiro. Does this mean we're related?"

"I would guess it either puts us as siblings or as a married couple, judging by our age. Do you have proof either way?" Skye blushed as she spoke.

"This says I'm unmarried." Came the reply. Skye sighed with relief. It wasn't that Robin was unattractive, but she really did not want to be married to someone she didn't know.

After a full half hour of rummaging, Robin and Skye had finally emptied all of their pockets.

"So let me get this straight- we're twins." Robin nodded. "And we're both amnesic." Another nod. "And we were flying here to go to a college?" An affirmation. "But nobody knows where this college is." Robin let out a yawn and lay down.

"Exactly. Nobody in the hospital has ever heard of this 'Ylisse'." They had ask everyone who had come by, only getting the doctor to "look it up" after pestering him non-stop. Now, all that could be done is wait.

"I've been thinking- why is it that, even though we both lost most if not all of our memories, we still know how to talk? Why didn't we just turn back in to giant babies? And how come I know exactly what a baby is, but cannot picture it in my head?" Skye wondered aloud.

"You expect me to know this… how?" Robin answered his twin. "Now shut it. I'm trying to sleep."

The room fell quiet again. The sun was going down, Skye could see through the open door. The room to which she was confined had no windows, but it had probably been a nice day.

_I wonder what my life was like before._ Skye wondered. _My ID said I had three siblings. I wonder who they are._ She rolled on to her side. _I wonder what's going to happen to me now?_ Shivers went up her spine at the thought of living without any prior experience, no ideas what she was to do. _I need to do something- to stop my broken mind from wandering._ She told herself. She attempted to dismount the bed, maybe find a shirt to go on as opposed to her sweater. She was beginning to boil. Her mind tried to send a message to her leg, to get it to move, but was met only with a renewed wave of agony throughout her body. _Am I paralyzed too?!_ Skye panicked, kicking at her blankets. _Wait- I just kicked my blankets. Problem solved. _With great effort, she was able to lift one leg out of her bed, and then gravity took effect, pulling on her other leg, then her hips and torso, then her head, until she was a crumpled heap of human collapsed on the floor.

_COLD COLD COLD COLD! _Skye stood quickly, wondering why the floor froze her legs, but immediately fell again, this time landing in a crawling position. _I can do this._ she thought, weakly moving her limbs as to avoid causing herself too much pain.

What seemed like an eternity later, Skye reached the cabinets on the other side of the room, and collapsed against them, breathing heavily and wishing for a pain reliever. She sat there until the floor froze her again, and she looked down, shocked to realize that she wasn't wearing anything but her sweater. Stitches ran up and down her legs, and one appeared to have been in a splint. _Why on earth was I naked in the hospital bed?!_ She blushed. That seemed to be a theme with her.

In one of the cabinets she found a robe and gratefully donned it, shedding her sweater in the process. Slamming the cabinet door shut and walking clumsily back to her bed, she realized she had woke Robin.

"Nice robe." He smirked.

"Thanks. You want me to get you one? You could use it to cover up… that." She waved lazily at his bare chest. The response had been almost reflexive, the way something becomes only after it's been done for one's whole life. Maybe this was the way their relationship worked.

"I would gladly take that." He said, smiling. "I thought I was wearing pants, but upon closer inspection, my legs are stuffed in casts and bandages." He tried to rise, grimaced, then fell out of bed the same way Skye had.

His sister laughed. It felt good, she thought, to be happy after being unconscious for so long. She tossed him the extra robe she had grabbed.

"Ew. Now cover up, please." She said, looking away disdainfully.

Once Robin was clothed, he sat on his bed, his sister mirroring him across the room. Before he could say anything though, there was a soft knock on the door.

"May I came in?" The doctor whom they had pestered in to doing their research for them had found something..

"Sure." The twins answered in unison.

"I have found the answer to your query, although the internet provided little use. Ylisse is a college, nobody knows where, reserved only for special students of some kind. The only other thing I found was a phone number, which I called. I reached the president of the academy and told them that we have you here. They looked you up, and they agreed to come get you some time in the next week." He finished. "I'm sorry, but that's all I know. Now get back in your beds. You are still patients here." Robin and Skye sighed.

The natural light long since having faded from the hallway outside the door, both Shiros were asleep. The room they shared was once again peaceful, and the repetitive sounding of a heart rate monitor lulled the scene even more. The only thing that was out of place was a dark silhouette in the door of the room.

"_You and I can become one, and I can reclaim my power…_" It rasped. The sound echoed through the room like nails on a chalk board. Seconds later, the figure was gone.

The next five days passed without incident. Despite what the first doctor they had seen had said, Robin and Skye were taken out of their room and to the PT ward, where they spent all of their time stimulating their minds in hopes of restoring their memories. The endeavor proved fruitless, however, and the two quickly switched over to a fitness-centric regimen.

"Well, Robin, I can say you are as back to normal as we can get you." The therapist spoke, as she, Robin and Skye watched the van that was from their school pull up fromthe second floor window. "Skye, I'm still worried about your right leg. Don't push it too hard, and do the exercises I assigned to you. I'm letting you go only if you come back for a check-up in a month."

"Yes, m'am."

They were having a parting exam with their trainer, as what could only have been the President of Ylisse had just arrived in a white mini van with a blue teardrop-like symbol on the side.

The doors of the van opened. Out of the drivers seat stepped a tall woman, wearing green, with a long face and long bleach blonde hair that fell in curls down her shoulders. The twins watched her enter, then headed downstairs to meet.

"I believe their names are Robin and Skye," the pale woman was saying to the man at the reception desk as Skye, Robin, and the trainer approached.

"We're coming." Called Skye from across the room, stopping the woman mid-sentance. She turned to them and smiled warmly.

"Hello! It is truly a pleasure to meet you." She bowed her head. Instinctively, the twins bowed back. The woman giggled softly. "I my name is Emmeryn. I run the school which was your destination before the tragedy that befell you. I dearly hope you are alright."

"They're fine." Griped the PT, obviously thrown off by Emmeryn's soft voice and cordial tone. "All we need is for her," she pointed at Skye, "to come back in about a week for a check-in. Her leg is still healing."

"As you wish." Emmeryn bowed again.

The man at the desk stood and handed the twins a release form. "As near as we can tell, you are both at the age to which you are no longer dependents. So, just sign here and you can go." Pens scribbled.

"Then we'll be off." Emmeryn started. "Thank you for taking such good care of our newest students." The sliding glass doors opened and closed.

"Kinda seems like the beginning of a kidnapping." The clerk pointed out to the trainer.

"Meh. I got paid, so I could care less." She walked off, back down a dark hallway.

Emmeryn was not a talkative driver, Robin noticed. She just sat there, staring quietly at the road and obeying every rule to the letter. It was crazy, and also somewhat down lifting, as his sister spent the whole car ride staring out the window at all the beautiful greens of late summer. The silence was awkward only for Robin, who began to feel queasy whenever the car did anything but go straight.

"Are we there yet?" he ask, unaware of how immature it made him sound. Emmeryn laughed lightly, but did not smile and kept her eyes on the road.

"You see that small town up ahead?" Robin nodded. "Our destination is a three hour drive from the third town after that one." Robin groaned, moaned, and cried at the same time.

"The sun's already beginning to set. How are we going to get there in one night?" Emmeryn chuckled and whispered under her breath.

"Gullible."

Although the sun had set long ago, the city of Ylissitol, which held the school of Ylisse, was not as far as Emmeryn had said, much to Robin's delight. After they had reached the town Emmeryn had pointed out, they had veered on to a side road, one-lane, that was coated in cracks and weeds. They stayed on that road for half an hour before it opened up in to a well-kept four-lane highway, which lead directly in to a cramped, but cozy, city. Most of the buildings were Japanese-Style architecture, and were all two to four stories high. Despite the clustered establishments, Robin spotted multiple parks, raised above housing units, splashed about the city.

"Welcome to Ylissitol. Here, we hold all citizens of this fine nation that are descended from the blood of heroes long past." Emmeryn paused in her monologue, pointing dead ahead. "And that- That is the school Ylisse. There, we teach the old ways as well as the new to the descendants of the ancient Ylisseans, who had unique DNA that allowed for them to accomplish inhuman feats. You two have that DNA, which is why you have been brought here."

At the what Robin guessed was the center of the city, they reached a brick fence topped with decorative white spokes. The van's headlights shone on a steel gate, but nothing could be seen beyond the bars. Emmeryn parked and got out, then took a key out of her robe and opened the gate.

"We only lock it at night." She explained as she stepped back in to the car. "Many people, most of them failed students, have made a gang that attacks the school when they can. They don't do it in broad daylight, though. Tis' a sad reality of our existence." Both Robin and Skye shuddered.

Inside the gate, from what was visible in the van's dim headlights, was the polar opposite of the clustered city. There were vast, green open spaces, sprawling classroom compounds, along with a disorganized cluster of residences labeled for student use only. The van parked in front of one such house.

"This is my house." Emmeryn jerked her head over her shoulder, obviously in a hurry to get inside after a long day of driving. "The rest of these are school-provided student housing. We have no fraternities or sororities, but out two dorms from when the school was first built act sort of like them." She tossed Robin and Skye each a key. "Unfortunately, we are a little crowded this year, so you two will each be sharing one of the two large, third floor dorms with two roommates each." Emmeryn pointed off in to the dark. "Walk that way for about twenty yards and you will hit the road that leads to the Alpha dormitory. It's in the very Northwestern corner of campus. Since school hasn't started yet, many students might still be up, but it's easier if you just let yourselves in. Robin, you're in room 301, and Skye, you're 303. That's all you should need to know for know, and I have tasked your roommates with explaining the rest of the school to you in the morning. Goodnight, and may we meet again soon." With that, Emmeryn bowed one last time and went inside.

"Which way did she say?" Robin ask his sister, startled by the woman's sudden departure.

"Somewhere in this general direction." Skye said over her shoulder, heavy footprints wandering away. Robin jogged to catch up.

It was too late in the season for crickets, leaving the echoing footsteps singularly lonely. The moon shone above the trees, casting moving shadows that made the road a mirage. Every building they passed was dark, as if the life had gone with the sun.

_DONG._ A single sound of a large bell rattled the silent night. Robin's head shook. _Was it that late already? _The sound died off in the night.

"Hey." Skye finally spoke, breaking the peaceful silence that had enveloped the campus for so long.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever get the feeling that something big is about to happen? That we're walking in to something we can never escape?"

"That's funny. It's like you read my mind."

**So. **

**That… happened.**

**Yes, Skye is female Robin if you couldn't guess.**

**I really just needed one chapter to introduce the characters and the main themes of the story, so for all of you about to go read something by somebody with talent, please, just give me one more chapter. If you liked the story though, please like it and follow it, and I would appreciate anyone taking time out of their day to leave a review.**

**What majors should Robin and Skye be? I really have no idea.**

**Now, a little mystery to put at the end of my chapter story. This story's first letter of the phrase of power is…**

**E**

**Now while you wonder what the heck that means, I bid you adieu.**

**"The world would have you believe you are nothing. Society would have you believe you are everything. The truth? Whatever you want it to be."**


	2. Chapter 2

Added note 4-13: I finished this exactly one thirty-six in the morning on a school night. Waiting until the afternoon to post.

**Welcome back, reader! Glad you decided to stick with me.**

**So, I'm still waiting to hear what you guys want Skye and Robin (and anyone else for that matter, they're all in here)'s majors to be.**

**Any suggestions on this chapter and how to improve my writing would be appreciated in the reviews. Be as mean as you wish, as long as it is founded.**

**"Some people come in to our lives and quickly go. Some stay a while and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."- Anonymous**

**Budapest- George Erza**

**Disclaimer: Even though nintendo gave us a new fire emblem trailer, they have not given me the rights to the series.**

"Chrom, we can't just leave him here."

"Well, what do you propose we do?"

Robin's eyes slid open to the sound a two male voices. They were muffled, though, as if the sound was far away.

"I… dunno." One of the voices spoke. It was slightly deeper than the other.

Sitting up, Robin clearly saw his dorm room for the first time. It was bland and empty. He had no Idea why he had been expecting anything else. Resisting his tired legs, he swung out of bed and dressed himself in the only pair of clothes he had. They were staring to smell.

"I see you're awake now." The second voice spoke as Robin entered the main area of the small room. There was a messy couch and a TV positioned next to an old, ratty door. Behind the couch was a bathroom, and across from him, next to the bathroom, was a miniature kitchen with a microwave, cabinets, and a round table with three chairs positioned around it. Two of the chairs held the owners of the male voices.

"Hey there." The one on Robin's left spoke in the slightly deeper voice. "I'm Fredrick." He was tall and thin, but not gangly in the way a teenager would be.

"And I'm Chrom." The other spoke. He had blue hair and was well-muscled. On one of his shoulders was what looked like a tattoo akin to the teardrop symbol that had been on Emmeryn's van. "Welcome to our room. Or, rather, your room, as you get to live here." The sarcasm in the final statement worried Robin.

"There's pop-tarts and ramen in the cabinets, along with some cheap cereal. Knock yourself out." Fredrick said, standing up. "We would stay, but we have a match to play. It's only an exhibition match, as school hasn't started yet, but it's important all the same."

"You're welcome to come and watch. Free admission to any student. To get to the stadium, just walk straight out the complex's front door. Can't miss it." Chrom, to, rose.

"And don't use the microwave. Last time we tried, it burst in to flames." Fredrick spoke over his shoulder nonchalantly. "By the way, your name is…"

"Oh! Sorry, I'm Robin." Robin spoke hurriedly.

"Well, Robin." Chrom piped. "It's nice to meet you." He and Fredrick began to leave.

"Wait!" Robin called after them. "If you don't mind me asking, what sport do you guys play?"

"Come down to the arena and see." Fredrick said slyly, then the two exited.

Robin wandered in to the kitchen where the two had been sitting. He opened the cabinet, and sure enough, it was empty save for a packet of Ramen, a box of pop-tarts, and two boxes of non-name brand oatmeal. He grabbed the first thing he could reach (the oatmeal) and began hunting for a bowl. In the next to the sink were three bowls, a spoon, and a fork. _These guys must be really poor._ Robin thought. From the money in his wallet, he probably could buy everything in the room.

Making oatmeal turned out to be a bigger deal than expected. The only visible source of water was the sink, which whined when turned on but did not produce anything. In the bathroom, the sink screeched for a good minute before letting out the expected water. The microwave was unplugged next to a burn on the wall. Robin was starting to wonder how the dorm got in such bad shape. Turning on the stove seemed to work, and robin cooked his breakfast there, but he had to use the fire extinguisher on the inside to prevent a catastrophe. Exhausted, he sat down to eat. The chair gave way under his weight.

"Seriously?!" He yelled at the room, going to eat on the couch. He brushed off a blanket and two inches worth of chips crumbs before sitting down.

_Is this what a normal room looks like?_ Robin hoped not. Digging through the couch cushions produced a remote and a video game controller. Flipping on the TV, Robin raised his breakfast to his mouth.

"C'mon, c'mon, hurry!" Sounds of disorganized movement woke Skye. She jumped out of bed, ready to help with a crisis.

What she opened her door to was not what she had expected. Nothing was on fire, but the two girls with whom she shared her room were running around like mad, throwing combs and makeup for the other to use.

"Umm… Hello? Do you need any help?" Skye spoke. The other two froze, one mid comb.

"Great!" One of them yelled. "You're up!" She finished running the comb through her hair, picked up what looked like a lance, threw it at the second girl, and then ran up and hugged Skye. "Nice to meet you!" She was short, with curly blonde hair like Emmeryn's tied in pigtails atop her head. "I'm Lissa. That's Sumia." She pointed across the room at a slightly taller, brown haired girl who was furiously searching for something. As Skye watched, she tripped over nothing and went head first in to the couch.

"Hey!" Her voice said, muffled. "Sorry we're in such a rush, but we have a big match today!"

"You should come watch!" Lissa added. "Just walk out the front door till you see the stadium. And the best part is, it's free!" She threw her hands in the air and spun. "Oh! I almost forgot! What's your name?" She ask Skye.

"Skye."

"Really?" Her eyes grew wide. "That's beautiful! I wish my name was that beautiful!"

"Lissa!" Sumia called from the door. "I'm ready! Let's go!"

"Great!" Lissa yelled and dashed out the door. "See ya Skye!"

"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen." Sumia said before following Lissa. Skye couldn't help but laugh. She was going to like it here.

Her room was laid out the same as her brother's. The kitchen had slightly more food, and the microwave had yet to burn out, but the rest was the same. _How did this room get in such bad shape?_ She thought, unaware that her brother's thoughts were the same. Without eating, she left the room to explore the building, and subsequently, the campus.

The hall outside her room looked like a hotel that had been shut down for years. The rug was faded and the walls peeling. _Does anybody here care bout how they live?_ The floorboards complained about every step she took. Only one other door stood on her floor, marked in faded gold _301_. She knocked. Seconds later, her brother answered.

"Hey Skye. What's up?"

"Oh! Is this your room?"

"Yep. It's pretty run down, though." He looked around the hall. "Though not much more than any other room, I'd assume."

"I'm going to meet the other students here. You want to come?" Skye quickly changed the subject. There was no real reason, she just wanted to meet other people.

"Sure." Robin grabbed the key hanging next to the door, then left with Skye.

Every room on the second floor was empty. Wether people lived there or not, the twins didn't know, but no answers came when knocking. Downstairs held the same.

"Where'd everyone go?" Skye wondered, disappointed. She and her brother were standing by the main door.

"My roommates, Fredrick and Chrom, said something about a free game that we could go see. You think they all went there?"

"What kind of sport would motivate everyone this much?"

"I don't know. We could go find out, though."

"I literally have nothing else to do. Let's go."

Walking through campus was a pleasurable experience. The grass beneath their feet was green and damp with dew, the trees above were as welcoming as they had been before, and every cream and burgundy building they passed looked in better shape than their dorm.

"What are you're roommates like?" Robin ask to break the silence in which they had been walking. Skye giggled.

"They're… uh… excitable, but they seem like nice people. They said they were playing in the match today. I wonder if that means they're playing against you're roommates, or if this is a team sport thing."

"It bugs me that I don't know. I have no recollection of how any sport is played."

"Me neither." They both sighed, and fell back in to silence.

When the stadium come in to sight, both froze. It was _huge._ No- it was bigger. And from the sound rising out of it, it was packed. Banners of horses and swords decorated the sides. A small door marked "Competitors" sat between tow larger doors marked "Civilians" and "Students". Moving again, both students headed to the appropriate doors and were let in.

The stadium, or as the man at the student's admission door had called it, the colosseum, was impossibly bigger on the inside than the outside. Rows upon rows of stone-like bleachers surrounded a dirt field ten feet down. On the field stood two flagpoles, one with a green dragon-banner flying from it and the other holding a blue banner with the same teardrop-like emblem on it. _What is that symbol? Why does it keep showing up? _Robin had no idea.

Turning away from the dusty arena, the Shiros climbed hundreds of rows packed with both students and people from surrounding town. At the top, they walked around the perimeter of the stadium until two empty seats appeared.

What was happening in the middle of the ring was like a scene from a Roman Gladiators movie. Bodies wrapped in amour lay frozen in odd positions all over the field. A girl in a yellow dress was running around with a wand of sorts, tapping people and unfreezing them. A man in blue armor riding an honest to goodness horse hit another in leather amour with a lance. The man froze and fell to the ground.

In the middle of the battlefield, for that was the only way to describe it, Robin recognized Chrom _sword fighting_ with another person Robin didn't know. As he watched. Chrom's sword mis swung and the other combatant's hit home. Chrom froze. The opponent then kicked him down and walked over to the flagpole displaying the blue banner, brought the banner down, and raised a green one identical to the one across the field. A trumpet sounded, and all those frozen on the ground began to move off the field. People began pouring out of the stands.

"What the heck was that?!" Skye wondered aloud. Even though the match had just ended, the stadium was almost empty.

"I have no idea." Robin was shocked as well. "Was that even legal?" Skye's face split in to a grin.

"Who cares? That was AMAZING!" Robin smiled too.

"It kinda was, wasn't it? Wanna see if we can go catch some of those players?" His sister was on her feet in a flash, running out of the colosseum. He rushed to keep up.

No luck was to be had with their search, however. They waited for hours outside the locker room, then wandered the campus looking. Defeated, they headed back to the dormitory, where they knew at least one combatant was.

Skye and Robin burst in to room 301 in time to catch Chrom and Fredrick putting their armor in the hall closet.

"Hey, Robin." Fredrick said without turning. Chrom, who was facing them, was surprised.

"Robin, why are you bringing a girl in to our room?!" Skye turned a deep red.

"Relax, she's my sister. We saw your gladiator duel-thing today and wanted to know more, so we came to you."

"So you managed to get down to the arena? I'm sorry you couldn't have seen a better match. I'm a little out of practice."

"That was a bad match?" Skye exclaimed. "That was thrilling! Enthralling! Amazing! How do you do that?"

"Well, just let us shower and we'll show you." Fredrick interjected. "We were due to give you both a tour of the campus anyway." Then, he shooed Skye out of the room and walked in to the bathroom.

"Wait for us outside." Chrom told Robin. "You're sister's roommates should be joining us as well. Robin did as he was told and sat outside. The sun on his face was pleasant, and the wind sung him a lullaby. He had been up awfully late the night before. Five minutes of sleep couldn't hurt.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know." Chrom's voice woke him. He was sitting, slumped against the wall. Two girls he had never seen were suppressing giggles, and Skye, Fredrick and Chrom were smiling over him. Judging from the color of the sky, a burnt yellow of sorts, he had been out for more than five minutes. Fredrick helped him to his fee, and they began walking down the snake-like road that ran throughout the campus.

"The first thing we need to explain about Ylisse is that it isn't a normal college. It is named after the ancient country of Ylisse, and only accepts students with heritages from there. As such, there are many families at this school- Lissa and I are sisters, Sumia there has a sister named Cynthia, and many others have siblings as well. Like you two." The twins smiled. Lissa pointed at a white brick building with a reddish trim.

"That's the engineering building."

"Yes it is." Chrom continued. "Since we accept only certain students, we have a building for every major you could think of. That way, everyone that can go here will go here."

"Theater building." Fredrick called out.

"Along with your major, every student is required to take a History course on their heritage."

"Business building."

"Liberal Arts building."

"Clown building." Everyone looked at Sumia. "What? Just making sure you were paying attention." She shrunk.

"Housing development."

"Yeah… What's up with that? Why don't you just have all dorms?" Robin ask.

"Well, originally, all the students fit in to the two dorms we have. But, then we update our DNA test to include DNA for any Ylissean, not just royalty, and they started pouring in faster than we could build. We just ended up buying a part of town and giving those houses to the new students. That took a chunk out of the budget, though, so our dorm hasn't bee updated since the school was built."

"That explains it."

"We also have people who are not Ylissean in descent, but from other countries of that era, living with us. There were five super powers at the time- Ylisse, Regna Ferox, Plegia, Valm, and Chon'sin. Each has their own school today, Valm in Europe, Ferox in Canada, Chon'sin in Japan, and Plegia in Saudi Arabia. Students from those schools transfer to us through that regional office over there, next to the main office building. Most of the Plegians around here dropped out, though, and are now part of a gang that assaults the school at night. They haven't killed anybody yet, though. Only a matter of time."

More building passed as the tour continued. The school really did have everything.

"Omega Dormitory." The other dorm seemed better kept than the alpha dorm that the group was from. "It's newer, so it hasn't deteriorated much yet."

"And finally, the last stop on our tour, the stadium. You seemed particularly interested in this one, so I saved it for last." Chrom smiled evilly. "We are actually looking for more players on our team. Our team is made up of everyone from our dormitory, plus a girl named Olivia who didn't make the Omega Dormitory team. We're still two spots short though, and we were hoping you two could fit the bill. Our opponents are either other teams from our school or clubs from big schools around the country. At the end of the year, the best teams from each school meet at Valm for a huge tournament. It's exciting, and we're hoping to get to go this year." Chrom led the twins in the door marked "Competitors". Inside, there were "Home" and "Away" doors, and further along, "Men" and "Women" doors. The entire group went to the "Men" 's door, which Skye found odd, but she didn't speak up about it.

Inside was what one would expect from a locker room, with a couple benches, a bathroom, and, of course, lockers. Laid out all over the room were sets of armor, all unique save for a blue spandex body suit that seemed to be included in every set.

"Pick out anything that looks appealing. The blue jumpsuit goes on under whatever you wear. It's what causes you to freeze if it's hit to hard. All the weapons are real."

"Books are weapons?" Robin ask, looking beneath a ridiculously large hat.

"They aren't quite books." Sumia explained. "You say what's written there, it shoots out a signal. Most enemy suits hit by the signal will freeze, but armor usually blocks it."

Robin and Skye wandered the room a bit, inspecting all the equipment. Laying in one corner, as if discarded, were two cloak/coats covered in purple designs. Both of the twins gravitated towards them.

"Those are the equipment for the tactician position, but nobody uses them anymore because the weapons are better suited in other classes. You can try that if you like, though." They both immediately stepped in to the coats, their weight oddly familiar and comforting. Robin's hand instinctively went to an inside pocket he had never seen before and produced a book labeled in ornate gibberish, while Skye drew a concealed sword and flicked it through the air with ease. The group seemed impressed.

"Alright, let's see how you do." The group dispersed to change in to their own armor. The twins waited on the battlefield.

"I know it's odd, but this coat feels like something normal. Like I was missing something before I put it on." Skye told her brother.

"I get the same feeling. I wonder if our parents trained us in this stuff?"

"I dunno. I surely can't remember."

Lissa was the first one to be finished, surprisingly. Her armor consisted of a steel-cage dress that could not have been comfortable over her freeze suit. In one hand was a stick with a green ball on the end.

"I may not be able to attack," She told the Shiros, "But if you get hurt, I'm the one who will be stitching you back together." To demonstrate, she took Skye's sword and whacked Robin's arm with it. It hurt, but not as much as expected. However, his arm froze. Lissa touched it with the green end of her staff, and it mobilized again.

Fredrick came out next in heavy blue and white armor, leading a horse. From the ground, the field was definitely big enough for it. Sumia was behind him, leading a leaner horse, but wearing no armor. Small wing decals decorated her saddle.

Last out was Chrom, wearing silver armor that was missing an arm. Robin wondered how that was practical.

"Alright. Simple training drills only, the four of us have already played a match today. Robin, when you're ready, bl-" Without warning, Chrom swung his blade at his new roommate's head. Robin had, apparently, studied this, and his left hand instinctively drew his own sword to catch Chrom's an inch from his face. Faster than Chrom could react, he pulled out his book and said the first word on the page, _thunder_, pointing it under Chrom's outstretched arm. Chrom froze, shocked. The whole group seemed awed. Seconds later, a trumpet like the one at the end of the match sounded, and Chrom was able to rise to his feet.

"What was that?! Have you done this before?" He ask, unable to grasp what had just happened.

"I-I-I don't know," Robin stammered, "It was just- just reflexes."

"Then you've got some gooood reflexes." Sumia commented, "You have got-" She swung at Skye with her lance the same way Chrom had at Robin. Skye's book was in he hand immediately as she whispered _fire_ and Sumia froze, lance a good foot from the other girl's chest. The group was, again, shocked.

"Alright." Chrom spoke happily. "Looks like we've got a chance at the trophy this year!" The other members of the gathering cheered. "Let's break in to a couple more serious drills, then call it a day. You still need to meet your neighbors."

For the next hour, Fredrick and Sumia attempted to run Robin through while Chrom fenced with Skye. Her sword was shorter than his, it had to hide in her robe, but she easily kept her own, instinct taking over. Robin froze instantly the first couple of times, however he quickly developed a strategy and soon both tacticians were calling out tips to their opponent on how to get through their guard. The group seemed fairly well matched.

Sweaty and exhausted, the team, called the "Shepards" after a historical vigilante force, threw in the towel. After showers, the small band headed back to the dormitory. During the trip, Chrom told the newcomers of the basic rules at Ylisse.

"They're pretty lax here, until school is in session, honestly. They really don't care what you do until then, so long as you don't break anything, but once class starts, they like to ensure that students are focusing on their work. The older students aren't allowed alcohol on campus, the support for anything that isn't strictly work-related goes off at nine, and being late to a class results in removal of most privileges for one day. So long as you're relatively good, though, they give you a pretty long leash."

The group traipsed up the steps and in to the Alpha dorm. In the main lobby area sat a girl with bubblegum pink hair wearing what looked to Skye like underwear, until she realized it was a cheerleading uniform. Why the girl wore a cheerleading uniform when she obviously wasn't cheerleading was unclear.

"Hey Livi." Lissa said to the girl, stopping. "Have you met Robin and Skye yet?"

"No." She turned away as she spoke, blushing furiously. "But Flavia told me my cousins had shown up. I'm Olivia. It's great to see you guys again, even if you don't remember me." Robin looked puzzled.

"It's a family-centric school, remember?" Fredrick spoke.

"Nice to meet you- again, Livi. Can we call you Livi?"

"Most people do." She paused.

"Robin and Skye are becoming Shepards!" Lissa told Olivia.

"I don't doubt it. I know nothing about you, but my father always said you two were some of the most promising sword fighters in the world." Olivia stood. "I really have to be getting back to Omega, though. Practice still on for Thursday?"

"Always is."

"Great! I'll see you guys later." Olivia ran off, her tiny skirt flapping as she did. "This is soo embarrassing!" They could hear her say. "Why do they make me wear this?"

Chrom watched her leave. "That was your cousin, Olivia. You have a younger set of siblings as well, but they are abroad with most of the others their age. They won't be back until close to the end of the school year. Now, follow me, and we'll meet the rest of the people who live in this dump."

The two lower floors had four rooms each, the first floor being two-person rooms and the second being the same. One of the first floor rooms was boarded off, however, and construction signs scattered the area.

"Remember how out microwave catches fire? Well, down here, the extinguisher didn't put it out." The residents of the other three rooms, 101, 105 and 107 were a two young women named Sully and Mirel, who seemed to get along despite conflicting personalities, Stahl and Vaike, who seemed less likely to get along, and Maribelle and Cordelia, who might have gotten along perfectly if it weren't for Maribelle's stubbornness. On the next floor were Donnel and Ricken in 202, and Lon'qu by himself in 204. The other two rooms, Chrom told Robin, had occupants, they were just abroad.

Back on the third floor, Robin, Chrom, and Fredrick turned in to room 301 while the girls headed for 303. Robin fell asleep in his clothes, for it had been a long day. He needed to wash them soon, though, or at least buy new ones. Skye had enough energy to take hers off, and hoping that nobody was still up, walked down to the washer and dryer in the basement and left them there, before heading back upstairs without incident. Then, she, too, fell in to the trance known as sleep.

**Well, that's that. Chapter two is up, I hope things make more sense now.**

**I know the swordplay aspect is kind of a cop-out for making this a "modern" story, but there's just so much about swords in this game that I can't not include them.**

**Before I go, I would like to ask, again, for you to leave a review, good or bad, for this story. I'm not gonna do the thing where the next chapter won't go up until I get x reviews, but I would like more than one.**

**I**

**"The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday."**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello. Welcome to chapter 3. Sorry for the lack of an update. I had SUPREME WRITER'S BLOCK for this chapter. Still, that's no excuse. I'll try to have the next one out fast.  
This chapter is a bit shorter than the last.**

**"One thorn of experience is worth a forest of warning." -James Russell Lowell**

**The Jungle- X ambassadors feat. Jamie N Commons**

_Screaming is bad, right?_ Robin thought to himself as his mind rose out of the blissful depths of sleep and in to reality. _Who's screaming at this hour? _Groggily he rose, walked over to his window, and sloppily threw it open. His tired eyes were met with a burning orange uncharacteristic for the middle of the night. _What the…_ His nose flared, stinging at the recognition of an oddly familiar scent. _Smoke. Fire. FIRE! _His tired body left in to action, slipping on the closest piece of clothing he could find, which happened to be his uniform he received at the arena the previous day. Blasting through the door to his room, he dimly recognized the din of the fire alarm starting up. He heard Fredrick rising from the other side of the wall, but Chrom's room was already empty, door flung open as if he had left in haste.

The halls were crowded with smoke and half-awake occupants, and it took Robin a minute to get outside. Once he did, his eyes fell upon a hellish view- One of the old, large trees that decorated the campus was ablaze. At it's base, Chrom, his sister, and a black figure. As Robin watched in horror, a burning branch fell from the tree and ignited the dormitory. Kellam and Fredrick, who had just exited the dorm, ran back inside to get everyone out, while Sully ran to get the campus fire department. _Why the heck does nobody use cell phones around here? _Robin remarked as he ran to Skye and Chrom. The sight from up close was worse than he had imagined. The black figure, laying on the ground, was a corpse, charred beyond recognition. On it's back, written in scars glowing red from heat, read a message. _It's begun._

"It's the gang- the Plegians." Chrom told him somberly. "I'm sure of it. But nobody hoped it would come to this."

Robin looked around for something he could do to help. In doing so, he caught a faint trace of purple through the buildings and the ashes. Focusing in, he could barely make out a humanoid figure, wearing a silver mask that seemed to glow faintly purple. It's clothes were smoldering and it was holding an empty bottle of lighter fluid.

"Chrom?" Chrom looked up. "You got you're sword?"

"My arena sword? Sure, but what good's tha-"

"Follow me. Skye, you grab you're stuff and catch up with us."

"Where are-" Chrom ad Robin were already gone. Sighing, Skye stood and did as her brother had said.

Once they had left, Robin stopped Chrom behind the building where he had seen the man. "I need you to lock up the complex. Go get Emmeryn. Nobody can get in or out of here, got it?"

"Robin? You okay? You're acting really strange."

"Just do it, please Chrom? I'd do it myself, but I've go to go catch a murderer." Chrom's eyes widened, then he turned and ran. Robin lifted his sword from it's scabbard. "Here baddy-baddy-baddy…" He whispered to himself, then jumped at the spot where the masked one should have been. There was nothing there, though, and he spun around, seeing the pyro bolting towards the front gate. He gave chase.

The man ran exceptionally fast for a guy in a mask and fireproof gear holding a steel can. Soon, Robin was falling behind, and the man almost disappeared from view. A tree passed by blurredly on the right. The man made a sharp left behind a building. Turning, Robin almost ran in to a trash can. The game of cat and mouse continued, but there was no way to tell if the cat was chasing a crafty mouse or if a stupid mouse was chasing the cat. Robin just hoped all the zigzagging gave Chrom and Skye time to catch up.

By the time the man finally reached the front gate, it was locked shut, courtesy of Emmeryn no doubt. Foolishly, however, she and Chrom had set out to find Robin, and the gate was unguarded. With a heavy heart, Robin realized that the man would get away. That was, until Skye stepped out from behind the pillars of the gate and lashed at the runner's ankle with her short sword, the blunted edge cutting slightly and almost breaking the bone. He fell, and Robin caught up with him, pulling a rope out of his robe and tying the man's hands together. As he was about to rip off the man's mask, a gun sounded, and the man was dead. What would have been his escort was on the other side of the gate holding the smoking barrel. He fired two more shots at the Shiros, which both missed, and then he retreated in to the labyrinth of the city streets. Robin and Skye stood in shock, looking down at the body. They had seen two deaths that night. When Emmeryn and Chrom arrived, Skye began crying and hugged Chrom, much to his surprise. Robin also felt like crying, but he was unable to summon the water to his eyes. He just mindlessly followed Chrom and Skye back towards the dormitory. He dimly noted that Sully, Fredrick, Kellam, and a large, tan man were holding a fire hose, and that nothing was burning. He filed that away- more sleep was important now.

The next morning, Skye awoke late. It was normal, considering the night before. She lay in bed and thought about crying again, before pushing through and walking out of her room wearing a bathrobe. School hadn't started yet, and she had no plans of leaving the dorm. She sat down next to Lissa on the couch, who also looked traumatized, and watched whatever the horrible cartoon Lissa had turned on turned out to be. Sumia made them a bowl of popcorn then left for work, everyone else's summer jobs having gotten out already.

After four hours of _Duck-Dog Man, Savior of humanity, dog-kind, and duck-kind,_ Skye though she was going crazy. She stood up forcibly, shocking Lissa, and strut purposefully in to her room, dressing properly and making herself ready for public. Once she looked suitable, she left Lissa alone, and walked down to the main floor and out the glass doors. She saw her brother running in large circles around the building, probably blowing off stress from the night's encounter. She caught up with him and ran a few laps, the exercise helping immensely. Energetic as ever, She headed back inside to make Lissa dinner.

That night, before she drifted off to sleep, she heard Chrom yell out the window at her brother. "Don't stop running, Robin. It's not midnight or anything." Sarcasm dripped off his tired voice. Skye chuckled.

The day after was the first Shepherds practice, two days before the beginning of class. Robin awoke late. Running for six hours when one should be sleeping can do that to a person. Painfully, he stood, and slowly maneuvered his tired legs to his fighting gear. He slipped in to it and began to leave. By this time, he figured, he was already ten minutes late. And walking was painful. _ Fun. But at least I'm training. Nobody's going to outrun me as well as that gang member did that night. _

Walking down to the arena was as painful as Robin had expected. It took him a good five minutes to go down two flights of stairs without collapsing. Another ten minutes found him outside the arena, half an hour late. Everyone else was already out on the field, engaged in some sort of scrimmage. He quickly dressed and joined them.

Once he got out on the field, Chrom called a rest and all the combatants turned to him.

"Well, look who decided to show up." Robin laughed sheepishly.

"I couldn't just show up on time. I had to be-", he posed, "fashionably late." Chrom laughed heartily.

"Glad you could make it. Next time we have practice, try not to stay up until midnight running in circles." He tossed Robin a pink watch with Minnie Mouse pointing at the numbers to tell him the time. "Put that on. And next time you're fashionably late, at least try to be fashionable." He chuckled and walked up to Robin. "You're on my team- I need help. You're blasted sister teamed up with our dear roommate to slaughter half our team. Did I mention the tactician position comes with the job of organizing our battle strategy?" He smiled and Robin returned in kind.

"Okay. First Plan- Chrom charges in alone while I take time to come up with a second plan."

"Glad you know how this works."

On his team, Robin recognized Sully, Stahl, Ricken, Cordelia, and Donnel from his dorm, along with his cousin Olivia. Sully and Stahl were wearing light armor and were riding horses. Ricken was dressed in blue robes beneath a ridiculously large hat. Donnel wore normal clothes, with a pot on his head and holding what looked like a stick (How was that useful?). Cordelia was dressed identically to Sumia, with no armor and a fast horse. Olivia was holding a sword and wearing what looked like someone's drapes. Ricken, Donnel, Cordelia, and Olivia's left leg were all frozen in place.

"No healers?" Robin ask.

"Nope."

"We're screwed?"

"Yep."

"Good to know."

"The goal is to put our flag on their flag pole?"

"Yep."

"Last question. What does Olivia do? She isn't in any armor."

"Any enemy armor around her slows down."

"Okay. We can resume again."

The fighting began agin. First, both teams pulled back to their respective ends of the field. Then, with a mighty roar, Fredrick rushed up the left side of the battleground, followed by Kellam and Lon'qu, who Robin vaguely recognized. Kellam was in large, heavy orange armor, holding a lance, and Lon'qu was dressed in thick robes and wielding a katana-like sword. Up the other side came Sumia, dressed the same as she had been a few days prior, along with Miriel, dressed like Ricken but in red. Behind them were Skye and Maribelle, who looked like Lissa on a horse. Vaike, Lissa, and Virion were frozen in the middle of the field.

"Quickly. Olivia and Chrom, head left. Olivia distract the as best you can, Chrom you try to kill anyone who leaves themselves open. Do not get engaged in any form of serious combat- you must live. Stahl and I will distract the other four. Sully, take the banner and drop it by their flagpole, then come back and save whomever needs saving. Now go!"

Chrom and Olivia broke left, Stahl and Robin veered right, and Sully charged straight ahead. In reaction, Skye yelled something indiscernible, and Sumia and Kellam broke off from their groups to attack Sully. Robin moved to help her, but his sister barred his path. Chrom, Olivia, and Stahl were all blocked as well.

Everyone was a lot stronger than Robin had originally pegged them. Sully was able to maneuver around Kellam enough to find a chink in his armor and stun him. She was unable to take both him and Sumia, however, and the unguarded rider sized the victory flag, the lower half of her body frozen. Maribelle broke away and healed Sumia. This gave Stahl the chance to end Miriel, which in turn gave Skye a chance to finish Stahl. After a grueling minute, Lon'qu landed a blow on Olivia, which Fredrick finished, as Chrom got through Lon'qu's defenses. Robin broke away from Skye and shouted "ArcFire", freezing Maribelle. Both sides pulled back to regroup. Once the repose concluded, Sumia began riding around the perimeter of the field, holding both team's banners, while Skye and Fredrick rushed Chrom and Robin. The two tuned back to back, on the defensive. Fredrick Crashed against them, lance swinging low. Robin took it's point with his sword and threw it skyward, away from Chrom. Fredrick passed them and wheeled around, preparing for another charge. Then Skye was upon them, and Chrom furiously countered every one of her calculated blows, sword moving high to low like an extension of his body. Eventually, Fredrick came back, but instead of passing again, he stopped his horse and began to lash out with his lance. Robin missed the first strike, his leg immobilizing, but learned quickly and blocked all the others. Turning to Chrom, he motioned for a team-up, and together, they swung at Fredrick, who dodged Robin's small blade but was struck by Chrom's larger one. As he fell to the ground, Skye lashed at Robin, freezing his other leg. This made him a prime target for Sumia, who came rushing in, hitting him square in the chest with her lance, but opening herself to a spinning blow from Chrom. Both she and Robin fell.

Now it was a matter of skill, a contest between Skye and Chrom. Chrom, with the longer sword and better practice, had an obvious advantage, but he was tiring. If he let down his offense for just a second, Skye would "cast" a spell and the match would be over. High swing, duck, roll, jab. The combatants seemed a good match at first. Roll, jump, slash, turn. Chrom was slowing down. Skye jumped back from the battle and whispered the word "Elfire" in to he tome as quickly as possible. Chrom almost caught her. Almost. He froze mid-jump in such an odd position Skye couldn't help but laugh as she took both of the flags and hung hers on the flagpole, resetting the field. The rest of the team rose, grumbling.

"WHY IS IT" Vaike ask nobody in particular, "THAT TWO NEW DORKS WITH NO MEMORIES CAN SHOW UP AND TAKE OUT CHROM AND THE VAKIE JUST DROPS DEAD?!"

"Maybe 'cuz you don't wear a shirt." Said sully, and collective chuckle went up from the group. Vaike's whole demeanor changed.

"Be honest ladies, the more you see of the Vaike the better." Lissa pretended to vomit. The teasing continued through the locker rooms, mainly directed at Vaike and Chrom, who seemed to be invulnerable to everything. The words "Wimp" and "Jerk" seemed to be the forerunners of the team's good-natured insults.

"Quite a group you've got here" Robin mused to Chrom while walking back to the dorm. Lissa and Vaike had deteriorated in to a series of "Uh-huh" and "Uhn-Uh" 's for the third time that day.

"When you've known the same people for your whole life, odd relationships begin to develop. We've probably all dated each other at least twice, pushed one another down a hill, and stated almost faction-like verbal warfare. At least it's never boring." He smiled at Robin. Robin smiled back. "But already feels like you and your sister have been with us forever."

The next day was Friday, the last weekday before the beginning of the semester. As new students, Robin and Skye were obligated to attend the short orientation held before the year began.

In the auditorium/ theater building, they found their seats. They weren't the only ones there, but compared to the size of the entire student body, nobody showed up. Emmeryn was on stage next to a microphone, waiting for everyone to be seated.

"Welcome, everyone. We are glad that you have chosen to stay with us at Ylisse for your college career. We offer a wide variety of classes in almost every major imaginable. You do not have to decide what you want to be just yet, however. We also offer a semester-long decision period where you only take the basic classes needed for every major. Now, if you turn your attention…" Emmeryn continued talking, but Skye stopped listening. It was nothing Lissa and Sumia hadn't told her before. "For every student on a top level gladiator team…" Skye's selective listening kicked back in. "… required to take road trips to fight other school's teams. These journeys will in no way affect your final grade. All the learning that is to happen during these days…" Skye lost interest again. _It's cool that we got to go on paid road trips, though. I wonder what the rest of the world is like? _Skye began thinking. She had never known anything but Ylisse and the hospital in which she woke up. Were there other colors out there? Other people? Other animals? The prospect of adventure filled her, and she knew that she wanted to travel. "… and our business building has top of the line…" continued Emmeryn. _Naga why did I come to this! This is torture!_ She looked over at her brother, and at first glance thought he was taking notes. Then she saw his head rolled back and the drool coming out of his mouth. His eyes were closed. She chuckled and took a picture for blackmail. As near as she could tell, her brother was a great friend to her, but they made fun of each other a lot, almost like it was instinct. "…Now, if you follow me on our tour, I'll…" Skye groaned and rose. Everyone else in the room did the same. The small group followed Emmeryn half-heartedly through the campus. "…I know that this is very boring, but it must be done, so if you could please stay awake…" _Nothing this boring must be done._ Then an idea came to her. Grabbing Robin by the wrist, she ran for the arena, which happened to be the closest building. Inside, another team from the school was practicing.

"Excuse me." She ask one of the members, who was leaning against the wall. "I left my jacket in here the other day. Have you seen it?" The member, named Mario, shook his head and left.

"Not one for talking, I guess." Robin mused. "That guys had some mustache, though." A pause. "Did you really lose your coat?"

"Nah, I just wanted away from that tour. Chrom already showed us everything, remember?" Skye answered her brother, who nodded.

"Oh yeah."

"Now we can watch these guys practice while pretending to look for my coat. Then we can beat them if we play them this year!"

"That's… a little too much, if you ask me, but I'm not on that tour with Emmeryn, so I'm in!"

The next hour was spent searching for a coat that didn't exist. Skye noted that the team wasn't very organized, but a couple of their players had enough talent to almost cover it. The main strategy seemed to be sacrifice everyone while the good ones killed those that got in their way.

Behind her, Robin had just left the equipment room, holding what seemed to be a bikini, a cape, and a purple book or "tome". He was smiling wickedly. Skye was about to call him perverted before she realized that it was a dark mage's uniform and not a swimsuit.

"Look at this." He said, motioning to the fighters below. His finger was on a word in the tome, _Mire_, which allowed to attack from ver far away and over enemy lines at the cost of accuracy.

"That might work." Skye said. "If we had a dark mage."

"I'll try to find one." His tone changed to teasing. "You're suuure you don't want to wear this? I know some people back at the dorm who would be veeery excited." He held up the uniform.

"THere's nothing there to wear!" She said, and slapped him.

"Fine, fine." With a cheeky grin. "I promise I'll find us a dark mage before these guys come up in the schedule. What's their team name?"

"I don't know, but their flag has a mushroom with a face on it."

"Team Shrooms it is." Robin smirked at his own pun.

"That wasn't funny."

"I know."

**Well, there it is. Chapter Three. I procrastinated them choosing a major again, so if anyone has any suggestions I'll still take them. Thanks to the few who have given them, though!**

**Again, I'm really sorry about the slow update.**

**Remember to read and review! Thanks!**

**E**

**"Be somebody who makes everybody feel like somebody- because that's what they are."**

UPDATE: DECEMBER 5 2015-Just updating to prove I'm not dead. Here's the state of this story so far: I have no Idea what I'm going to do with it. I think I will split it in three: One, a Fire Emblem fic with the same name and plot, but with the characters in high school and not college (I know more about high school, because I live it every day :P) and without the ender's game-esq fantasy combat sport that I already have planned out. I have three chapters written on a Legend of Zelda story that I'm waiting to publish that will follow the structure and combat I wanted for this one, but be set in fantasy time. The third story is either going to be Legend of Zelda or Fire Emblem Awakening and will feature all the relationships and fluffy stuff I wanted in this one from the view of a vlog. A fourth and fifth story, one a Fire Emblem fic like this with the fancy combat freeze weapons and one an unrelated pokemon romance/mystery, are still forming in my mind. All in all, big things are coming, so follow my profile for future updates ;) Glad to be back, and have a great day y'all!


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